Income inequality and opportunities among immigrants in BC

Hey all,

Sorry for the late reply I've been busy working on other assignments over the last few days.

Midas, I completely agree with your altered version of question 2 on the immigrants previous regions. You're right to point on the economic disparity across Europe between east and west and it is important that we do split those regions up. Like Minjeong and others have noted on Question 3, I'm all up for changing it to asking whether their financial situation has improved since arriving to BC.

Mayra, you are right to suggest that it would pose some problems as there are differing levels of "poverty" depending on where you are from. Someone considered impoverished in Canada could be considered middle class in another area of the world etc. I understand your suggestion for Question 5+6, however the key differences in these questions is that 5 asks the immigrant on his/her sentiments toward the BC government on providing benefits for immigrants and 6 asks whether the immigrants area of residents provides enough benefits. Provincial level and municipal level governments differ and one may do a better job than the other in providing an immigrant with the resources he/she needs to get off on the right foot. For example, the provincial government may increase services for immigrants etc. over a certain period of time which may cause an immigrant to favor the provincial level, however the community in which the immigrant resides within BC may lack the fundamental services needed for the immigrant to go out in his/her community and adjust to his/her new home. A quick example I can think of is between rural BC areas and metro Vancouver. There is no question that metro Vancouver offers services for new immigrants, however an area up in Northern BC or the Cariboo may not. This may suggest that immigration services should be available for all immigrants throughout the entire province, not just in metropolitan areas.